"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
04-01-2019, 07:36 PM (This post was last modified: 04-01-2019, 07:37 PM by Valdis.)
how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage? too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays
If she is experiencing pain, Valdis doesn’t at all show it.
Her stomach is wide, heavy with a child long overdue. Oddly enough, Valdis has been content enduring her pregnancy with no rush to deliver; however, the child within her readily squirms.
Underneath a patch of dappled sunlight her body settles. The fallen leaves from autumn sigh with the added weight as she nestles down in preparation. Silence purses her lips shut, refraining her from calling to Sinner. The noise would pique Mary’s interest, perhaps others, and so her route of quiet reigns as the contractions sink claws into her flesh. Pain kindles like fire through her veins for the first time, but she only musters a grunt as she battles herself to maintain silence.
Valdis adamantly stays strong, clenching her jaws and letting it all course through her. She will not show weakness, whether Sinner joins her or not. Blood – her own – saturates the air and it stirs something within her. Where her hooves were are now claws. Her talons tear into the leaves and soil, leaving gashes as signs of the discomfort ripping through her. Breathe, she desperately reminds herself, as exhaustion glazes her eyes.
Another contraction.
Another rip across the ground.
And then it is done.
The child lies behind her, sheathed in sacs and fluids until Valdis musters the courage to address it as a first-time mother. It’s obvious they are mother and child. Valdis cannot help to smile as her sapphire eyes drink in the sight of her daughter and the similar frosty-blue that patterns her coat. Slowly reaching forward, she presses her lips to the girl’s poll and whispers, ”Dracarys,” it tastes beautifully on her tongue, ”the first of hellhound and dragon blood.” A kiss is tenderly placed before she slowly withdraws and stands up, providing support for her newborn.
He has been waiting anxiously for this day to come.
While Sabrina had held a special place in his heart the day she was born, it was entirely different than the coming of his second child. Sabrina was the physical deed that sealed his position and future blood on the throne of the autumn kingdom. It built a foundation that was stronger than ever, making both Mary and him ever more important on the throne. An heir to the throne was everything but a reminder of greater things to come and the future success of Sylva.
But to him to him, an heir was only a tool.
Sinner has come to care little to nurture and cradle the woman he has shared his seed with. There was no need to ensure the safety of those that have now carried his children for they both are strong-willed creatures. Mares that were independent and strong enough to care for himself. Perhaps it was in his nature to share his future spawn with those that were just like his own mother, Brunhild. Mares that were warriors, a stronger blood and nurturing that would create children of his own to be the same.
Valdis did not seem to cater or object to his choices in caring for her either. She was strong in many ways, and needing him during these past few months had not been one of them. But he did not forget her during those months. He had ensured her safety, but there was a deeper and more emotional connection he had for their child that was to come. His connection distorted and strong as some would say, with Valdis was everything and nothing. It was everything that could destroy him, but nothing would stop him from keeping her away from him.
He needed her in ways that were unnatural. A side of him he truly does not comprehend. Perhaps will never understand either.
The hellhound can smell the scent of blood as it quickly taints the air. There is familiarity in the scent of the blood—a sign that Valdis labor has finally come. Sinner makes his way eagerly towards the area of the kingdom where Valdis has given birth to their newborn child.
A smile instantly pulls wide across his dark bay lips when the sight of mother and child is revealed to him. They are both beautiful, he thinks. A sight he is sure he will always cherish beneath the hundreds of layers he will never share with another. But it is pride he feels most in this moment the most.
“What a beautiful daughter we have,” he says warmly approaching the dragon mother and child. “She has definitely taken after you, my sweet, Valdis.” He cannot help but stare at the shades of blue that their new child has. “Have you given her a name yet?” He says glancing to Valdis, but turns quickly back to watch his daughter with awe. He does his hide his fascination and pride for their new child in front of Valdis either. The hound is sure Valdis will be proud to see that pride he holds for their new daughter.
I have never been nothing. I am the blood of a dragon.
Ice and fire.
She was molded from the hazardous elements of the world. Creating something delicate, but very dangerous at the same time. But she would never truly know how destructible she could become. A force that should not be reckon with.
The confinement of the womb, dark and warm, is all she knew. But something within her wanted more, something beyond her confinement was out there. She could hear the noises. The distant voices and the thumping of the heart.
She had to know what it was.
Her demand was heard without protest. Unwrapping her from the dark and warm place she has only know so far. Pushing and pulling her out into a light, the cold rushing in. She embraces the cold with a warm welcome though. Blinded by the light that steals the darkness from her.
The young filly instantly is touched and catered to by lips that feel foreign, but warm and tender at the same time. She does not fret and cower as a warm and tender voice whispers the very first words to her in this new world. The first of hellhound and dragon blood, the voice says again. But she does not truly know the meaning of it, except for the strength it holds within the familiar voice.
A kiss is tenderly placed on her before the other horse stirs. Her head turns in the direction the mare stirs in. The light still blinds her, but she opens them slowly. The colors of the world are first a blur to her, but eventually everything begins to focus. She notices the different colors of the leaves that she lays upon, reaching up to the very top of the trees that canopy over her and the mare.
The mare encourages her to stand. But standing feels foreign and strange to her. A concept she doesn’t think possible to, but the mare provides the support for her. She struggles once, falling back down into her previous laying position. But the second time she tries again she finds her balance.
Within the corner of her sight, a dark figure comes forward. The filly stares wide-eyed at the bay hound. Uncertain at first, but she feels the familiar connection with the stallion. A voice she perhaps once heard within her confinement. When he asks the mare—her mother she supposes—what her name is, she already knows it.
how come I never got used to the feeling of sleeping in a cage? too long driving, too damn hungry; a tied-up hound but nothing stays
Valdis didn’t expect this – none of it. A child peers up at her and her mind immediately reels back to Sinner. Something has blossomed between them, but she cannot quite fathom what it entails. With minimal convincing, she has provided him a daughter. As independent as she has been throughout the pregnancy and delivery, there is an underlying lust for his body and warmth. Somehow, he provides a comfort that no one else has. And sometimes she chuckles to herself because Valdis can remember how afraid of him she initially was.
His jagged teeth stared her down during their first encounter. There was a warning in his hooded, nutmeg eyes, and yet Valdis rooted herself and pried him open more than anyone else.
It unlocked something not only in Sinner, but in herself.
An easy sense of wholeness surrounds her when he arrives shortly after the delivery. A small, coy grin brushes across the edges of her lips when she flickers her blue eyes up to him. ”I expected no less,” she purrs, confident they would produce only the most beautiful and strongest children. He must have known it, too, because there is no surprise on his face – only an infectious pride that vibrates the air among them. Valdis’ softened eyes stray only for the briefest moment away from Sinner, long enough to watch their daughter’s name curtly fall from her tongue. ”Yes,” she murmurs without reiterating the name decided upon.
Dracarys.
Leaning forward, Valdis presses her lips to Sinner’s neck. A lungful of air is drawn in, tasting it for the first time in what feels like an eternity. There’s no need to admit that she missed him – it’s obvious in her tender gestures before she lifts her mouth along his jaw and toward his ear. ”She is perfect,” she pauses to consider it before finally confessing, ”and next time, I will give you a son to match.”
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